MR2 spyder bike rack

I recently got into mountain biking and wanted to be able to take my bike to the trails with my own car. I didn't want to use a trunk style rack so I found a way to adapt a hitch mount rack. I will be testing it this weekend to see how well it works. The rack is more solid than it looks and was made to hold 2 bikes, but I will use a nylon webbing strap from the top tube of the bike and hook it to my engine hood to ensure wind does not cause too much of a bending moment on the mounting rods, bumper or the rack itself.

Spyder Rack

Greetings! I picked up an 01 Spyder a few weeks ago as a third/toy car and am curious as to how your rack has held up? I've thought about trying to find a TwosRUs hitch rack but yours seems much more up my alley. I'd only ever be carrying my XC or road bike, never both.

Thanks! I'm probably going to get the bolts made up soon and get it started regardless.

Bike Rack for 2001 MR2 Spyder

Some minor adjustments needed, but the versatility of the luggage rack was the way to go for me. The Sypder has almost no storage capacity.

I have driven upto 80 mph on the freeway with the bike mounted. I drove about 75 miles averaging 75mph last weekend. The rear trunk lid may fatigue over time and my bike + rack may come flying off, but for the time being it is solid and I'm happy with it.

Bash
I have the same car - color, luggage rack and all. A couple of questions for you since I have the same issue - no place to put anything, much less a bike. I'm thinking of having a hitch receiver mounted but that may be pretty expensive.
It looks like you reversed the luggage rack to get the proper angle but it also looks like you only move the rack forward with the top down. Can you not move the Front Loader forward with the top up?
Do you feel the rack and bike flexing at all while driving?
I'd like to be able to carry two road bikes (maybe 17-18 lbs ea) but wonder if that's too much flexing weight on the engine hood.

Yes. Since I have taken these photos, I only load the bike with the front tire over the engine and rear tire over the passenger compartment. You can load a bike this way with the top open or closed. You can even open and close the top with the bike mounted.

Originally Posted by faja

Do you feel the rack and bike flexing at all while driving?

Yes. My previous bike was a 34lb rig, so there was a lot of flex. You will want to use heavy duty locktight on the assembly bolts, as they started to vibrate loose after a while. After I applied liberal amounts of locktight I have not seen any loosening. The trunk lid does flex and I am thinking about re-enforcing it. That said I drive fast 80mph+, make fast sharp turns, and hit speed bumps going pretty fast also. If you drive slower there will be less wear on your trunk lid. But all metal that is flexed will fatigue, so check it often.

Originally Posted by faja

I'd like to be able to carry two road bikes (maybe 17-18 lbs ea) but wonder if that's too much flexing weight on the engine hood.

While weight is a concern, I would be worried more about the placement of the bikes. Consider these two issues:

1) The rack I have has two protrusions which would make it difficult to add a second bike, because the spacing is such that the bikes would have to be mounted right on those protrusions.

2) Right now with the single bike, the bike rests over the center console, should there be a front impact(as in another vehicle or fixed object, maybe a couch on the freeway?) the bike would crash down onto the center console. IF there were two bikes each one would be mounted over the head of the driver and the passenger. In the event of a collision or an emergency stop + a failed part, the bikes would crash down upon the occupants.

Just my thoughts. I can post more pictures if you would like. I would like to see your rig. Especially if you mount up the two bikes. I would for sure reinforce the trunk lid if you mount a second bike.